Stressors and Coping Strategies during Resettlement for Rwandan Refugees in the U.S

Background and Purpose: Refugees face significant stress during their migration journey and post-resettlement. While a dearth of literature has documented various stressors associated with resettlement, minimal evidence discusses Rwandan refugees’ coping strategies to deal with these multifaceted stressors. It is important to understand their experiences after the 1994 Rwandan genocide since a subset of them resettled in the U.S.. As such, this study aimed to explore post-migration stressors that aggravate and contribute to poor mental health of Rwandan refugees as well as their coping strategies. Findings from this study may assist in the development of programs to aid in addressing mental health disparities.

Methods: This study used a descriptive phenomenology to explore Rwandan refugees' experiences. Using a purposive snowball sampling strategy, a sample of thirteen Rwandan refugees participated in in-depth interviews. All in-depth interviews were audio-recorded, professionally transcribed verbatim and analyzed following Colaizzi's (1978) steps of descriptive phenomenology. The transcribed data were uploaded to Atlas.ti.8 for organization, coding, and analyzing.

Results: Analysis revealed three themes. The theme lack of trust and empathy was discussed by Rwandan refugees mentioning their stressor resulted in the exposure to the 1994 Rwandan genocide. As such participants discussed that during the genocide, people lost trust stating, "No one cared for me. First, you do not trust anyone anymore after going through the genocide. No community, I lost my trust in people." In addition to trust, the lack of empathy was also shared as participants stated that not having the 1994 Rwandan genocide lived experience that, “there are still things that people who never lived in that situation, [may not] understand.” Given such, participants stated it was unnecessary to share their experiences because “ I think, if I tell this story [exposure to 1994 Rwandan genocide] to someone who never lived it, they would think I'm lying. They would think I'm crazy”. Due to trust issues, participants indicated they engage in behavior such as “ keeping everything to [yourself]. You know, the problem is that you are isolated alone.” Coupled with trust and empathy issues, social isolation was also highlighted as described in the next theme. The lack of community with shared lived experiences which was attributed to participants' social disconnections in their resettlement locations. Participants discussed that adapting to a different lifestyle in the host country can lead to isolation. However, the theme on the value of support post-resettlement described the benefits of having access to communities with similar ethnic backgrounds. Having access to this type of social support offset certain resettlement stressors and fostered positive well-being for Rwandan refugees.

Conclusions and Implications: Findings indicated that Rwandan refugees faced unique stressors prior to migration that extended and are compounded by resettlement experiences. Although this is true, Rwandan refugees relied on their social support, especially with friends who share similar identity and experiences to cope with stress. These findings have important implications for social work practitioners in recognizing the role that the 1994 Rwandan genocide played when rendering services to individuals with such experiences.